Four unraced meet two maiden winners in Athens juvenile test

The PEACH BOUNDARY(IRE) Bonanza
Stakes
Six furlongs
Firm Turf
$80,000
All horses, 2 years old

LAFYEV (IRE) is an unraced freshman scratch-bred colt by Fasliyev running for wss.  Fasliyev leans toward turf sprinters as a sire, so that bodes well for the colt.  His damsire, Best Turn, however, points the other way to dirt route horses.  Journeyman T Withycombe is up and does not add particular riding prowess.

The willowisp6 stable brings in bargain-bred KALUKI(NY), also unraced.  Little-known sire Kalu’s best runners like dirt, but at least his sire, Honor Grades, got some top turf runners in real life like Honor Glide and Gone Fishin.  Obscure damsire Sakura Laurel (JPN), a multiple group winner in Japan, has no other sim runners as a damsire.  His get as a sire do like turf sprinting.  N Block has the reins on the 88-1 shot.

DUBAI MOONLIGHT(ENG) was a first-out, turf sprint maiden winner on July 28th here in Athens.  The colt is the first foal out of the winning E Dubai mare DUBAI WELLS.  Sire Cacique already has three stakes winners, two on turf.  Another journeyman jock, A Wooden, stays aboard from the maiden win, and will look for a stalking position with the 9/5 favorite.

SOULMAN(KY) is another unraced scratch bred coming to post for wispa4.  Sire Perfect Soul’s foals have shown ability on turf, while damsire What A Pleasure is strongly dirt-oriented.  There is hope that 21-year veteran J Shelmo can guide this one home in a minor upset at 5/2.

Unraced TEE CHEE(FR), the third member of the Willow Stables empire in the race, further represents the scratch breds, coming down from the breeding farm in France to take on this field.  Sire High Yield gets nearly 10% stakes winners, but nearly 70% of his progeny’s earnings are on dirt.  Damsire Apalachee is a decidedly dirt sprint influence.  Jockey W Rudd hopes to move closer to double digits in win percentage on the year with his charge.

APOLLO MOON(OK) deserves kudos for representing Oklahoma-breds in Athens.  He is the first foal out of  ELIZABETHTOWN, a Malibu Moon mare who eked out a maiden win and two low dollar claiming wins despite breaking 80 SP#s only once in her career.  She did her best work on turf, but Malibu Moon tends strongly to dirt runners overall.  The Oklahoma-based sire Apollo has turf influence Lyphard in his pedigree, and indeed there are some runners who like the green stuff, including top juvenile earner WHITEY DURHAM(OK).  APOLLO MOON(OK) broke his maiden first out in his home state for the planetred stable, which has secured the services of top jock V Drosos for the first European ride.